In The Passionate Teacher, Ron Fried describes the Game of School (GOS) as what happens when teachers and students forsake intellectual work and instead engage in their classes as rituals. Take this opportunity to consider this chapter in light of some of the the other experiences that you've had this semester. What elements of the game of school are you seeing in your placements? How have you seen teachers fight the game of school in their classes? What similarities, if any, did you see between the descriptions of American classes in the TeachingGapand the Game of School? Finally, what impact will this description of the GOS have on your own approach to teaching as expressed in your teaching philosophy?
In this chapter of the book, The Passionate Teacher, Fried compares the educational systems to a "game". He describes students, teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, and parents as players of the Game of School. Students do what they have to to get through the system and graduate, and teachers follow the same routines each year. Fried explains that teachers do not get paid extra for being extra passionate about their subject and inspiring individual students to reach their potential, so many just talk their way through the lessons and chapters of the textbook to meet the requirements of the curriculum.
During my time I've spent at the middle school, I've seen many instances of students and teachers playing along with the Game of School. For example, my CT in the middle school often spends quite a bit of time going around the room and checking off students' homework. Usually, she checks the homework while the students are working on the warm up activity so it does not take up extra class time, but sometimes she waits until after the warm up to check the homework. She could save a lot of class time by always checking during the warm up, or checking it at the door as students are entering the classroom. Also, her sixth grade class this year is having trouble following directions. Every day, my CT spends a large amount of class time repeating directions and allowing time for students to correct mistakes that occurred as a result of them not listening to directions. Fried describes time consuming actions such as checking homework or giving directions as part of the game.
I work at the afterschool Homework Club at the middle school I'm student teaching at. I work with a group of students who were recommended to homework club because they seem to be having a hard time getting their work done at home. These students are definitely playing the game. If they have a packet to read and questions to answer, they will skip the reading and just skim it for the answers. They know that their teacher goes over the homework before she collects it, so they just make sure they have words written down to get checked off at the beginning of class. This is an example of students knowing the "tricks" of the game.
At the high school, it's a different story. I've noticed that my CT has many duties she has to fulfill outside of teaching. She is assigned to a "focus group", which is a group of teachers who meet about once a week to dicuss the discipline policy at the school. In the focus group meeting that I attended, the teachers read an article about a discipline policy at another school and related it to the policy they have at their school. I thought that this hour of valuable time could be better spent by planning and modifying lessons or planning interdisciplinary lessons with other teachers, especially since my CT has very little behavior problems in her classes anyways. This focus group, along with many other non-teaching duties such as writing letters of recommendations or rewriting the requirements for students to be considered proficient in a certain area, take time away from my CT that she could be spending with students.
I thought Fried's description of the Game of School matched the description of American schools in the Teaching Gap. The Teaching Gap explains that American teachers and students follow a set procedure; teachers introduce a new concept or problem and demonstrate ways to solve it, and the students engage in multiple practice problems. This shows how teachers and students are just doing what they need to to get by in our educational system.
Reading about the GOS has made me want to be a teacher who recognizes the potential in each student. I don't want to allow students to just scrape by with the minimum amount of effort. I will design lessons, activities, and assessments that encourage students to challenge their ideas and ask questions about what they're learning. I think my CT's do a great job of this and hope to learn as much as I can from them.
In this chapter of the book, The Passionate Teacher, Fried compares the educational systems to a "game". He describes students, teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, and parents as players of the Game of School. Students do what they have to to get through the system and graduate, and teachers follow the same routines each year. Fried explains that teachers do not get paid extra for being extra passionate about their subject and inspiring individual students to reach their potential, so many just talk their way through the lessons and chapters of the textbook to meet the requirements of the curriculum.
During my time I've spent at the middle school, I've seen many instances of students and teachers playing along with the Game of School. For example, my CT in the middle school often spends quite a bit of time going around the room and checking off students' homework. Usually, she checks the homework while the students are working on the warm up activity so it does not take up extra class time, but sometimes she waits until after the warm up to check the homework. She could save a lot of class time by always checking during the warm up, or checking it at the door as students are entering the classroom. Also, her sixth grade class this year is having trouble following directions. Every day, my CT spends a large amount of class time repeating directions and allowing time for students to correct mistakes that occurred as a result of them not listening to directions. Fried describes time consuming actions such as checking homework or giving directions as part of the game.
I work at the afterschool Homework Club at the middle school I'm student teaching at. I work with a group of students who were recommended to homework club because they seem to be having a hard time getting their work done at home. These students are definitely playing the game. If they have a packet to read and questions to answer, they will skip the reading and just skim it for the answers. They know that their teacher goes over the homework before she collects it, so they just make sure they have words written down to get checked off at the beginning of class. This is an example of students knowing the "tricks" of the game.
At the high school, it's a different story. I've noticed that my CT has many duties she has to fulfill outside of teaching. She is assigned to a "focus group", which is a group of teachers who meet about once a week to dicuss the discipline policy at the school. In the focus group meeting that I attended, the teachers read an article about a discipline policy at another school and related it to the policy they have at their school. I thought that this hour of valuable time could be better spent by planning and modifying lessons or planning interdisciplinary lessons with other teachers, especially since my CT has very little behavior problems in her classes anyways. This focus group, along with many other non-teaching duties such as writing letters of recommendations or rewriting the requirements for students to be considered proficient in a certain area, take time away from my CT that she could be spending with students.
I thought Fried's description of the Game of School matched the description of American schools in the Teaching Gap. The Teaching Gap explains that American teachers and students follow a set procedure; teachers introduce a new concept or problem and demonstrate ways to solve it, and the students engage in multiple practice problems. This shows how teachers and students are just doing what they need to to get by in our educational system.
Reading about the GOS has made me want to be a teacher who recognizes the potential in each student. I don't want to allow students to just scrape by with the minimum amount of effort. I will design lessons, activities, and assessments that encourage students to challenge their ideas and ask questions about what they're learning. I think my CT's do a great job of this and hope to learn as much as I can from them.